Mariposa Grove
of Giant Sequoias
Guide and Map

Yosemite National Park

This guide is available in several languages and is for sale
at the Mariposa Grove.
In summer,
a tram is available to take you from the parking lot through the groves
or you can walk the entire way.

If you’re visiting Mariposa Grove off-season,
print this webpage out ahead of time,
as this guide is sometimes not available when it’s not the peak Summer season.
I find it more peaceful and relaxing to visit the grove in the off-season.
—Dan Anderson, www.yosemite.ca.us

Converted to HTML by Dan Anderson, August 2004.
These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose,
provided this notice is left intact.
Use of this map is subject to the
disclaimer below.

Welcome
to the Mariposa Grove of Giant
Sequoias. If you’re impressed with these trees in the
parking area, you’ll be awed by the larger trees farther
ahead

These trees, Sequoiadendron giganteum, aren’t
the oldest living things. Some individual living specimens
of the ancient bristlecone pine, Pinus aristata, are
more than 4,600 years old! The oldest Giant Sequoias
may exceed 3,000 years.

And Giant Sequoias aren’t the tallest living things,
either. The related coastal redwoods, Sequoia sempervirens,
grow higher, up to 368 feet (112 meters). These
“Sierra redwoods” top out around 310 feet (94 meters),
the tallest in the Mariposa Grove is about 290 feet (88
meters).

Giant Sequoias don’t even have the greatest basal diameters.
The Montezuma cypress, Taxodium mucronutum,
of Mexico may exceed 50 feet (15 meters).
The largest known Giant Sequoia is just over 40 feet (12
meters) in basal diameter.

So why did these trees capture the attention of
the world when discovered by western Europeans in the
early 1850’s? Simply stated, in total volume the Giant
Sequoias are the largest living things known to humans.

On your right as you start into the grove on the
main trail is the Fallen Monarch. Perhaps you’ve seen
this tree before—in the famous 1899 photograph of U. S
Cavalry officers on their horses up on top! Tannic acid in
the wood suppresses the initial growth of fungi and
bacteria, essentially arresting decay. Only when rain and
melting snow have leached the tannin from the wood
can decay begin. Biologists suspect that this tree had
been down several hundred years before the Cavalry
photograph was taken! For your safety and to help preserve
what remains of the Fallen Monarch, please do not
climb on it.

Notice the roots of this tree. Sequoias don’t have
deep tap roots; instead, the roots spread out near the
surface to capture water. While the roots are usually no
deeper than six feet (2 meters), they fan out more than
150 feet (45 meters), providing a stable base to balance
the massive trunk. Staying on the road and trails minimizes
soil compaction that damages these surface roots.

Numerous young Sequoias line the road above
the Fallen Monarch, distinguished by their foliage of
round, overlapping scales; distinctive conical profiles
and soft, spongy bark. Strangely, there are few young
Sequoias back in the forest. Can you guess why?

To germinate, Sequoia seeds have three requirements:

some direct sunlight,

adequate moisture and

bare mineral soil.

Ironically, road construction
creates a perfect seedbed by opening up the forest floor
to sunlight, increasing moisture along the roadsides and
providing bare mineral soil on the road’s spoil banks.

But why are young Sequoias so sparse away from
the road? Shortly after these trees were discovered, in a
well-intended effort to protect them, people began suppressing
natural fires. More shade-tolerant trees, such as
white firs, incense-cedars and sugar pines, quickly
spread over the forest floor, reducing sunlight, competing
for moisture and blanketing the mineral soil with their
needles and debris. It became impossible for Sequoia
seedlings to get started.

Only lightning-caused fires, usually occurring in
late summer, could reduce the competition form other
evergreens and burn away the leaf litter, leaving a thin
layer of nutrient-rich ash over the mineral soil. The heat
from a fire dries some of the ever-present green Sequoia
cones high in the mature trees, causing a shower of
fresh seeds to fall after the fire onto a perfectly prepared
seedbed. Beginning in November, snowstorms slowly
bury the Mariposa Grove in an ever-deepening white
blanket. As the snowpack melts the following spring,
sunlight, moisture, fresh seeds, ash and mineral soil
combine to create a Sequoia nursery.

This dependency on natural fires for Sequoia
reproduction was not understood until the early 1960’s.
By then, 100 years of unburned forest litter and young
evergreens had accumulated, producing a massive fuel
load. Had lightning ignited a fire under these unnatural
conditions, an intense crown fire could have occurred,
possibly killing even the largest trees. To redeuce this
abnormal fuel supply and promote Giant Sequoia reproduction,
the National Park Service began a series of
“prescribed burns,” deliberately set and closely monitored
by rangers during spring and fall. When the forest
returns to a more natural state, these management fires
will probably be discontinued. Then nature can resume
its cycle of lightning-caused ground fires every seven to
20 years.

At the Bachelor and Three Graces up ahead you
can often find the egg-shaped Sequoia cones. The
crown of a mature Giant Sequoia may bear thousands of
green cones at any one time. Each cone contains about
200 tiny flat seeds, roughly 1/4-inch (1 cm.) in length and
resembling a rolled oak flake. These female cones grow
on the upper branches. Given this vertical separation,
how do the trees reproduce?

Like most conifers, Giant Sequoias depend on the
wind. Late winter storms bring strong winds that carry
the pollen from the lower branches of one tree to the
upper branches of others, continuing the genetic mixing
necessary for healthy reproduction. This vertical separation
reduces the likelihood that the tree could pollinate
itself. Please remember to leave all cones where you
find them for other visitors to enjoy.

Before you round the curve and see the Grizzly
Giant, stop for a minute and drift back in time. The year
was 1852, and a Mr. Dowd was employed as a professional
hunter, suppling meat to a mining camp some 75
miles north of Yosemite. One day while hunting, he
stumbled upon a grove of giant cinnamon-colored trees
that we know today as Calaveras Big Trees Stet Park.
Mr. Dowd rushed back to camp, exclaiming that he had
just found giant orange trees easily four times larger
than any trees he had seen before! Mr. Dowd’s announcement
was undoubtedly greeted by a hail of unkind
comments about his mental stability. He left the
camp but was not deterred. After an appropriate absence,
he returned, announcing that he had just show an
enormous grizzly bear and needed five strong men to
help carry the meat back to camp. When the five men
confirmed Dowd’s incredible story, the word was out.

Grizzly Giant

The Grizzly Giant
is one of the largest
trees in the Mariposa Grove and, at an estimated age of
2,700 years, one of the oldest living Sequoias. As you
wanter around its base, look up. That huge limb on the
south side is almost seven feet (2 meters) in diameter,
and that mere branch is larger than the trunk of any
non-Sequoia in the grove!

Some 50 yards beyond the Grizzly Giant is the
California Tunnel Tree, cut in 1895 for stagecoaches.
Most visitors don’t know that two trees in this grove were
tunneled, one of which is still standing. Walk down and
stroll through a tree!

Only an occasional large Sequoia occurs along
this dry slope between the lower and upper groves.
About 1/2 mile (0.8 km.) up form the Grizzly Giant, in a
level area with more ground moisture, is the Faithful
Couple. Here two large trees have fused together at
their base but remain clearly separated above. On the
opposite side of the road stand two smaller trees which
may form the next “faithful couple” 500 years from now.

Clothespin Tree

A 1/4 mile further is the Clothespin Tree.
Numerous fires have excavated a natural tunnel wide
enough for a car. Size is deceptive here, so walk up and
stand in the opening.

The Spanish named this region Mariposa for the
many butterflies they observed in the foothills. One of
the most perfectly shaped Sequoias, the Mariposa Tree,
carries the name of this county. Notice the almost completely
healed fire scar near the base of this magnificent
tree

Another 1/4 mile (0.4 km.) will take you to the Mariposa Grove Museum.
This fine cabin, built in 1930 and
restored in 1983, occupies the site where Galen Clark
built a small cabin in 1861. Inside are exhibits on the
ecology and history of Giant Sequoias.

Please help preserve this magnificent forest
and leave all cones where you find them.

Galen Clark

Another 1/2 mile (0.8 km.) straight ahead from
the museum junction is the top of the upper grove.
Directly in front stands the Galen Clark Tree, named for
the man who did so much to protect these trees. In 1861
Clark first entered this grove, probably up the draw
ahead of you. He was so impressed that he spent the
rest of his life guiding visitors among these wonders and
urging their protection.

In 1864 Abraham Lincoln paused during the Civil
War to set aside the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite
Valley as a protected state reserve “for the pleasuring of
the people.” Mr. Clark lived to see Yosemite National
Park established in 1890 and this grove incorporated into
the park in 1906. Along with John Muir, Galen Clark was
instrumental in Yosemite’s preservation, and it is fitting
that this beautiful tree bears his name as a living memorial.

To your left an easy side road leads 1/4 mile
(0.4 km.) to Wawona Point, offering an ideal lunch stop
with a stunning view.

Wawona Tunnel Tree

Turning right from the Galen Clark Tree soon
brings you to perhaps the most famous tree in the world,
the fallen Wawona Tunnel Tree. Who knows how many
millions of visitors drove through this tree between 1881
when the tunnel was cut and 1969 when it finally collapsed
under a record snowpack. Weakened by the
massive hole in its base, it may have died 1,000 years
prematurely. But the stories and pictures of this gentle
giant traveled around the world and undoubtedly contributed
to the preservation of its breathren.

Returning along the upper grove loop road, you’ll
find a real sleeper, the Telescope Tree. Close your eyes
and walk inside. With your eyes still closed, lean your
head back and slowly open your eyes. Incredible! And
this amazing tree is still alive and producing viable
seeds. It’s these trees’ resistance to fire, disease, insects
and decay that allows them to live through the centuries.
Only by toppling do they finally succumb. The Telescope
Tree is a notable example of their endurance.

A wise man once said, “A culture is measured by
what it preserves.” Although Yellowstone became our
first designated national park in 1872, the idea budded
here in this grove at least eight years earlier. Perhaps
America’s national park idea is our noteworthy contribution
to the spiritual wealth of mankind.

Tuck this pamphlet away and walk slowly back
down, letting this special place touch you.

Jon Kinney

This brochure was written by National Park Service Ranger
Jon Kinney who died May, 1986. Jon felt a sense of
wonder for these great trees and shared his feelings with
thousands of park visitors on his walks through the
Mariposa Grove. Jon’s ashes were scattered over his
beloved Yosemite, and he continues to speak, in the
silence of this grove, to all of us about life on this planet
and the sacredness of our wilderness.

“The Big Trees,”An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco
by Horace Greeley (1860)

“Jon Brian Kinney 1946-1986,” Yosemite 48(3):15 (Summer 1986)

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